The Chalkboard: Spurs walking into transfer puzzle with Sessegnon pursuit

Tottenham Hotspur continue to be linked with a move for Fulham full-back Ryan Sessegnon.

The London Evening Standard reported at the start of the summer that the versatile star, who can also play as a winger, is high on manager Mauricio Pochettino’s shortlist.

On the chalkboard

It remains to be seen, despite the links, where Sessegnon will actually play in north London if a move is completed.

Indeed, per WhoScored, throughout the 2018-19 season, the 19-year-old’s statistics are actually somewhat confusing.

In 35 Premier League games, the teenager made 0.6 tackles per game, 0.5 interceptions and 0.1 blocks. This, then, is not a defender.

Going forward, Sessegnon averaged 0.8 shots per game, 0.9 key passes and 0.9 dribbles. He made, on average, 19.6 passes per game with a success rate of 73.4%, along with just 0.4 crosses. This, then, is not an attacker.

It could, of course, be put down to the fact that Fulham were a mess for the duration of the 2018/19 season. They were relegated with just 26 points and were ten behind 17th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion. Were it not for Huddersfield Town, they would perhaps have been the worst Premier League team of the last decade.

But it will present a headache to Pochettino.

Another Marouane Fellaini

One is perhaps reminded of the time Marouane Fellaini moved to Manchester United.

Of course, Sessegnon is not all comparable to the Belgium international in terms of his profile, but there are similarities in the sense that nobody appears to know what his best position is.

Fellaini, at Everton, was a midfield destroyer, brilliant in both boxes, but he was, quite frankly, appalling in the area in between. When he joined United, he was played as an anchor man ahead of the defence, a box-to-box central midfielder and as a No.10, with varying degrees of success.

Sessegnon may have to undergo a similar process at Spurs.

In 2018/19, he played in no fewer than seven positions: right-back, left-back, right midfield, left midfield, right wing, left wing and as a centre-forward.

If he is going to become one of Spurs’ summer signings, Pochettino will have to nail down his position.